1. 1
When Virtual Care
Becomes the Practice
1
Richard E. Thorp, MD, FACP

2. 2

3. Conflict of Interest
Richard E. Thorp, MD FACP
Have no real or apparent conflicts of interest to report.
3

4. Agenda
• Camp Fire: California’s deadliest wildfire
• Recovering, rebuilding and enhancing the practice to support the community
• Deploying virtual care on the ground
• The role of the health plan
• Bringing value to providers and patients
• Scaling
• Discussion
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5. Learning Objectives
• Identify the keys to creating a sustainable, growing virtual care platform that
brings value to patients and providers alike
• Discuss the tools needed to successfully deploy trusted virtual care models
under time sensitive and challenging circumstances
• Recognize what is needed to deploy a virtual care model that can scale
both for a growing population and for continued clinical use cases
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6. More than 85 lives lost
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7. 15,000 homes
destroyed
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8. Our community, including our
medical
community, was devastated and
scattered
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9. Two medical facilities left to
care for patients
9

10. How do we
take care of
patients?
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11. 11
Available to all Camp Fire
victims free of charge
Virtual clinic opened
May 28, 2019

12. Broad spectrum of care emphasizes
personalization enabled by technology
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13. Reach – able to serve patients 435 miles away

14. 240 total visits between May and December
Ma
y
December

15. 506 total registrations between May and December
Ma
y
December

16. 16
FROM MARCH 1, 2020 T0 APRIL 23, 2020
TOTAL VISITS SKYROCKETED TO 1007

17. 17
ISSUES WITH CHOOSING A VENDOR
CURRENTLY ACCEPTABLE TO CMS:
HIPPA NONCOMPLIANT
FACETIME
SKYPE
HIPPA COMPLIANT
TELADOC
DOXYME
ZOOM FOR HEALTH CARE

18. 18
ISSUES WITH CHOOSING A VENDOR (2)
KEEP IT SIMPLE FOR THE PATIENT
THERE ARE MANY DIFFERENT PLATFORMS,
USE A VENDOR THAT CAN BE VERSATILE AND
SIMPLE TO USE ON ANDROID, APPLE, DESKTOP,
LAPTOP OR TABLETS

19. 19
2-STEP ENROLLMENT PROCESS
1. CONVERT CURRENT APPOINTMENTS TOVIRTUAL
a. The day prior, we call all patients, register them
and do a test visit.
b. Don’t expect them to be able to navigate on their
own.
c. Does the camera work? can you hear them? can
they hear you?
2. THE DAY OF THE APPOINTMENT
a. Medical Assistant “virtually rooms” the patient,
asking the regular MA questions and ensures the
patient is ready for the provider

20. No natural disaster necessary
to apply these efforts, but it helps!
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21. Telehealth is just at the beginning,
we believe it has a larger role to
play
in the future
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22. Discussion
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23. Once you stabilized what were
some of the key factors that
needed to be in place to make it
successful?
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24. How might someone choose a
vendor? What kinds of things
should they look for? What are
some good sources of information
on telehealth?
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25. How do you scale both for a
growing/changing population and
for continued clinical use cases?
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26. What does it mean to scale for
the payer vs. the provider?
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27. What are some use cases that
you see in the future?
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28. What is the reimbursement model
for these solutions?
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29. How can providers work with their
health plans on similar
opportunities?
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30. Q&A
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